If ever there was proof required of conservatism’s desperation to destroy democracy in Australia, it was evident in spades today.

Yesterday, we saw that odious creature on the opposition benches, Scott Morrison, berate the government for shelling out to have asylum seekers attend the funerals of loved ones lost from SIEV221. Some say the cost was $30,000 all up, and in the grand scheme, cheap at double the price. Especially when one considers the gay abandon coalition Senators wilfully destroy public property. The cause was sound and the motives just. Nothing wrong with displaying a little compassion now & again. Shame we don’t see it more often.

By today we see Morrison recant in a half-arsed manner, while the man who backed him the day before praised him for being a man, having the guts, while avoiding any references to his own complicity over the very same issue. No apologies from Mister Abbott. No surprises there. He learned from the master of denial. But wait….there’s more! It’s patently clear that “STOP THE BOATS” hasn’t resonated with the voters. The campaign of three word slogans has died a justified death to the frustration of some within conservative ranks, clearly. Whether or not it was Mister Slimeball, Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship, who mooted a campaign of fear and loathing toward Muslim immigration, it’s clear someone in the opposition ranks put the idea forward as a means of dog-whistling that small but rabid sector of Australia’s population who still yearn for a return of White Australia. Except, this time, they’d be after a White and Christian Australia.

Of course, those quick enough to realise the danger of inciting the race/religion issue – and it is one of race AND religion – were quick to distance themselves from the issue while throwing the veneer of deniability over Morrison in passing. Sharman Stone, and Mathias Corman are two who frankly, surprise me. Rabid in their own lunchbox at any given moment, here we see them back-peddling so fast the stumbles are clear for all to see. Noticeably quiet today was Hockey, but I suppose he feels he’d scored his points yesterday.

It’s crystal clear to me that conservatism in this country has reached the bottom of the political barrel and are busily occupied digging through the barrel to whatever does or doesn’t lie outside it. Already saturated with the daemons of jealousy, avarice and self-loathing, it seems conservatism will stop at absolutely nothing to re-take government in this country, short of inciting public rioting or dare I invoke it, forms of bigotry and racism not seen since 1933 Germany. As much as I believe the tactics of fear and loathing are all that Tony Abbott has, knows or understands as a means of policy debate, I fervently hope at least, that he won’t run the road of Hughesian racism & bigotry. Lords know, those people exist in more than enough numbers as it is. We don’t need to give the low-life sector any more oxygen than they already steal, in my view.

The provincialism and nationalistic jingosim being promoted by the coalition through their three word slogans and blind adherence to ethics less than 50% of them actually wish to identify with, is finally coming home to roost. In government, under the master of denial they managed to get away with whistling the dogs to their side. In opposition, under the master’s apprentice, keeping the feral feline in a socially acceptable sack while whistling up the dogs is a task beyond the current crew of the moribund vessel HM Opposition.

Cat’s out, and she’s frightened shit out of the dogs. Good thing too, in my view.